Court Voids Pro Bono Divorce Docs Due to Ill-Supervised Skadden Counsel

A New York state judge has granted a woman’s request to void her divorce settlement stipulation, claiming that her pro bono divorce attorney – who was an attorney with Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom at the time – made serious errors in representation and was inadequately supervised.

The plaintiff, a poorly educated, low-income woman named Michele Crespo, hired inMotion, a non-profit legal group, to represent her in her divorce.  Skadden attorney Lisa M. Poursine provided the pro bono representation of Ms. Crespo for inMotion – it was the first divorce Ms. Poursine had ever handled and it was supposed to be uncontested only.  The case got a little complicated, beyond what Poursine was equipped or educated to handle, she failed to ask for assistance, and she made “inaccurate and confusing” statements to Ms. Crespo. Specifically, Crespo claims that Poursine had her sign a waiver of equitable distribution and a settlement stipulation that she did not understand and that did not reflect her wishes.

In granting Crespo’s request, the judge determined that Poursine did not have the “appropriate training and supervision” to know whether her statements were false. The court cautioned law firms that in taking pro bono work, they should make sure that the pro bono counsel receives “appropriate support and supervision, so that they can provide pro bono clients with the same careful legal representation that they provide to paying clients.”